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Rock Circus facts for kids

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Madame Tussaud's Rock Circus was a cool exhibition in London that celebrated the history of rock and pop music. It was open from August 1989 to September 2001. Imagine walking through a museum filled with lifelike wax figures of your favorite music stars! It was located in the top four floors of the London Pavilion building in Piccadilly Circus. The exhibition mainly featured British artists, but many famous American musicians were there too. It told the story of rock and pop from the 1950s up to the early 2000s using videos, music, stories, and amazing moving figures called animatronics.

How it Started

London-pavilion-facade
The London Pavilion, where Rock Circus used to be

In the mid-1980s, the Tussauds Group, which also runs Madame Tussauds wax museums, wanted to create a new attraction in London. They found that people really liked the idea of a music-themed place for tourists.

To decide which music stars should be included, they asked their general manager, Martin King, the head of Tussauds Studios, Ian Hanson, and a famous radio DJ and music writer named Paul Gambaccini. The Rock Circus officially opened in 1989 with a special event featuring pop star Jason Donovan. It stayed open for about 12 years before closing in September 2001.

The attraction was built inside the newly updated London Pavilion building. It had wax figures, just like the main Madame Tussauds museum, plus a special show with moving animatronic figures. These animatronic figures were very detailed and could take up to a year to create!

What You Could See

When you visited Rock Circus, you wore special headphones. These headphones used a cool technology to play music and stories about whatever exhibit you were looking at. It was like having your own personal tour guide!

A big part of the exhibition was a "live" show. This show featured amazing animatronic figures that looked like real performers. It took you through the history of rock music from the 1950s onwards. The audience sat in a special room that slowly turned, so you could see different stages and scenes.

Many of the famous musicians even donated their own clothes for their wax figures! Paul Simon sent a guitar and jeans, while Mark Knopfler from Dire Straits gave his boots and a shirt. Other stars like Eric Clapton and Phil Collins also helped out.

As you walked through the first floor, your headphones would play short audio clips. These clips, narrated by Paul Gambaccini, would tell you about the performer in front of you and play snippets of their music. You could even take pictures with some of the wax figures!

The main area had a rotating stage with figures of Elton John playing "Bennie and the Jets", Little Richard singing "Tutti Frutti", and Stevie Wonder with "I Just Called to Say I Love You". They were all at pianos or keyboards. Every few minutes, a figure of Elvis Presley would rise up to sing a short song before going back down.

As you moved between floors using escalators and lifts, you would discover more scenes:

  • A huge video screen made of 36 smaller monitors.
  • Areas about famous music events like Live Aid and Woodstock.
  • A special "VIP" area with Elvis Presley and Bono.
  • A hallway filled with cool music items.
  • A 1960s London street scene featuring Tina Turner.
  • The Beatles in a recreation of their famous The Cavern Club stage.
  • Boy George sitting on a bin outside the main entrance.
  • The "Wall of Hands," which had handprints of many rock musicians, like the famous ones in Los Angeles.
  • Buddy Holly in a radio studio, with a rare interview playing.
  • Jerry Lee Lewis playing a piano that opened and closed, with smoke effects while "Great Balls of Fire" played.
  • Sting in a recording studio.
  • The Who with a giant pinball machine, featuring Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend appearing to jump out of it!

The escalator going to the top floor was inside a clear tunnel with neon lights. It was even called "Stairway to Heaven", like the famous Led Zeppelin song. At the top, you could watch music videos while waiting for the big finale show.

Before the show, there was a fun trick: a wax figure of a person sitting and watching a screen, looking so real that visitors often thought it was a real person!

After the main show, you would go down a spiral staircase decorated with music photos. This led to a gift shop where you could buy souvenirs and photos taken during your visit. Finally, you would return your headphones and exit back into the London Pavilion.

Artists You Could See

Many famous artists were featured at Rock Circus, either as wax figures, in videos, or as part of the exhibits:

Outside the London Pavilion building, there were also statues of rock legends like Annie Lennox, David Bowie, Diana Ross, Jimi Hendrix, and Mick Jagger.

The Finale Show

The revolving theatre show was the grand finale of the Rock Circus. It featured many animatronic performers and used advanced technology for its time. More than 200 computer signals were needed just to make Bruce Springsteen's arm lift up for his "Born in the U.S.A." performance!

Visitors sat on two rows of seats that faced a stage. What you didn't realize at first was that the whole seating area could turn! Once everyone was seated, the doors closed, and the show began.

Different animatronic performers would appear, with a moving figure of Tim Rice (a famous lyricist) guiding you through the show. About halfway through, the seating area would slowly rotate to face a second stage with even more performers. The music that played during the rotation was the start of Elton John's "Bennie and the Jets".

The show lasted about 10 minutes. It started with The Beatles in their famous Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Band costumes, singing a part of their title song. It included videos, music, and animatronic figures of stars like:

  • Janis Joplin, singing "Me and Bobby McGee".
  • Madonna, performing a part of her song "Like A Virgin" while lying on a bed. A cool animatronic leopard was at the foot of the bed!
  • Bruce Springsteen, performing "Born in the USA" on a stadium-like stage with smoke effects.
  • Elvis Presley, singing "Love Me Tender".
  • Bob Dylan playing guitar and harmonica for "The Times They Are a-Changin'"
  • David Bowie, as his character Major Tom in a spacesuit, performing "Space Oddity". He even spun around like he was in space!
  • Phil Collins, playing a full drum kit to "In the Air Tonight".
  • KISS, with Gene Simmons' animatronic having a moving tongue.
  • Sid Vicious.
  • The Eurythmics, with Annie Lennox's head splitting open to reveal Dave Stewart while "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" played.
  • The Rolling Stones, shown as giant inflatable lips around a TV screen playing their videos, with " (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" playing.

The show ended just like it began, with The Beatles in their Sergeant Pepper costumes.

Updates and Closure

In 1998 and 1999, Rock Circus had a big update that cost about £4 million. It closed for a short time and reopened in March 1999. New parts included a virtual reality experience that made you feel like you were on a stage at Wembley Stadium! There was also a fun "after-show party" scene with figures of Robbie Williams, The Spice Girls, and Jarvis Cocker.

Even with the updates, the attraction started to have fewer visitors. In its best year, 1993, it had 682,000 visitors, but numbers went down. Rock Circus closed permanently in September 2001. Over its lifetime, about 6 million people visited!

The Tussauds Group said that London had become an expensive place for young European tourists, which was one reason for the closure. Many of the wax figures were moved to the main Madame Tussauds museum, and staff were offered jobs at other Tussauds attractions. The space where Rock Circus used to be was later used by the Ripley's Believe It or Not! museum.

See also

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